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From: Minna Hakkarainen <minna.hakkarainen@helsinki.fi>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Date: Tue, Jan 22, 2008 at 6:21 AM
Dear list,
I'm turning to you all hoping that some of you would be able to help me. I
was contacted by Finnish authorities in order to help them to solve a
question of removing ashes of a death person from Finland to Vietnam.
The situation is as follows:
A Vietnamese person in Finland has ask a permission from authorities to open
the grave of his/her grandmother and to carry her ashes (body was burned
after her death) to Vietnam. According to this grandchild, they need to
return the ashes to Vietnam on a certain day in February this year.
The date should do something with the fact that the funeral of the
grandmother was held 18 years ago. The person said the timing has something
to do with the Vietnamese tradition, but due to language problems he/she
could not explain the reason any further. In Finland we have quite a strict
law regulating the graves and ashes of dead people. Therefore, they cannot
give the permission unless they get clear evidence that there is a certain
cultural reason for the request.
I would highly appreciate any information or possible contacts to solve the
problem as I am not an expert on this issue and there is very little time
left for the family to do the operation, should they get the permission first.
--
Minna Hakkarainen
PhD. candidate, University of Helsinki
Chair of the Finnish-Vietnamese Friendship Association
Puh. 09-191 54117 tai 050 514 86 22
faksi: 09-191 54 011
e-mail: minna.hakkarainen@helsinki.fi
Минна Хаккарайнен
Руководитель
Проект "Совершенствование знаний в области русского языка и культуры в
Восточной Уусимаа"
Хельсинкский университет
Центр обучения и развития Палмениа
PL 58 (Nilsiänkatu 3)
00014 Helsingin yliopisto
тел. +358-9-191 54117 или +358-50-514 8622
minna.hakkarainen@helsinki.fi
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From: Elise DeVido <aldi_tw@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Date: Tue, Jan 22, 2008 at 6:49 AM
Dear Minna:
Sure, it's a common custom in many Asian cultures...can't the VN Embassy help out with this? The family probably wants to get back in time for Tet? (early Feb)
If you could find a Vietnamese monk in Finland, that also might help, as they are indeed "experts" on this issue.
Good luck!!
Elise DeVido
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